Development of a polarimetry method toward in-situ substrate birefringence characterization of ground-based gravitational wave detectors

Abstract

Improving the sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors is necessary to enrich scientific outcome of gravitational wave astronomy. Birefringence in test mass mirrors of gravitational wave detectors can become an important factor for both current and next-generation gravitational wave detectors to achieve improved performance. In-situ birefringence characterization can become an essential diagnostic tool for detector performance, and needs to be established. We report a possible in-situ birefringence characterization method and its experimental results with a tabletop setup. The scheme proposed and demonstrated in this paper can be used as a diagnostic tool in large-scale gravitational wave detectors. We also discuss possible technological developments toward implementation in future gravitational wave detectors.